spell-check

American  

[spel-chek] / ˈspɛlˌtʃɛk /

Or spellcheck

verb (used with object)

spell-checks, present (3rd person singular) spellchecks, present (3rd person singular) spell-checked, past participle, past spellchecked, past participle, past spell-checking, present participle spellchecking present participle

1. to process (a document) with a spell checker; check the spelling of.

---

noun

1. a check for misspellings by using a spell checker.

Usage

What does spell-check mean? Spell-check is computer software that identifies and corrects spelling errors in digital documents and messages. It’s also a noun and verb for the act of checking for misspellings.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• spell-checking
  present
• spellchecking
  present
• spell-checked
  past
• spellchecked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• spell-check
  simple
• spell-checks
  simple
• spellchecks
  simple
• have spell-checked
  perfect
• have spellchecked
  perfect
• has spell-checked
  perfect
• has spellchecked
  perfect
• am spell-checking
  progressive
• am spellchecking
  progressive
• are spell-checking
  progressive
• are spellchecking
  progressive
• is spell-checking
  progressive
• is spellchecking
  progressive
• have been spell-checking
  perfect progressive
• have been spellchecking
  perfect progressive
• has been spell-checking
  perfect progressive
• has been spellchecking
  perfect progressive

Past

• spell-checked
  simple
• spellchecked
  simple
• had spell-checked
  perfect
• had spellchecked
  perfect
• was spell-checking
  progressive
• was spellchecking
  progressive
• were spell-checking
  progressive
• were spellchecking
  progressive
• had been spell-checking
  perfect progressive
• had been spellchecking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will spell-check
  simple
• will have spell-checked
  perfect
• will have spellchecked
  perfect
• will be spell-checking
  progressive
• will be spellchecking
  progressive
• will have been spell-checking
  perfect progressive
• will have been spellchecking
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of spell-check

First recorded in 1980–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spell-check spellchecks spell-checked spell-checking

I can confirm it takes even Arnold Schwarzenegger a full two seconds to spell-check his own name, before he looks up and smiles: "Yes."

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2023

We take editing tools such as spell-check and autocomplete and predictive texting for granted.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 29, 2023

Ironically, what explanation has been used far more often since the advent of spell-check?

From Washington Post ● Nov. 9, 2017

And still the Grauniad’s spell-check wants to call him Faker.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 18, 2017

George looked up the word "suspect" on the computer's spell-check.

From "Sleepover Sleuths: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #1" by Carolyn Keene

These visual spellchecks also commonly do not check words beginning with capitals.

From The Project Gutenberg FAQ 2002 by Tinsley, Jim

Williams, a religion professor at the University of Southern California and a Buddhist priest, says Ancestry will have names that have been assiduously spell-checked.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 24, 2024

It’s hard to tell when you’re reading Marche and when you’re reading A.I., but it’s good to know there might still be humor, of a sort, in the spell-checked world of our digital-language overlords.

From New York Times ● May 1, 2023

The PGA Tour heads to Boston for the Deutsche Bank Championship, aka the most spell-checked event of the year by U.S. golf writers.

From Golf Digest ● Aug. 30, 2016

I found the ball and threw it back to him, *** Quick tidied and spell-checked to here—page 155 *** “What are you doing?”

From Sketches in Lavender, Blue and Green by Jerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka)

Grammarly, the popular grammar and spell-checking tool, explicitly states that any text you place in its system can be used to train AI systems in perpetuity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2023

He also developed his own software products, including one of the first programs to provide automatic spell-checking and language translation.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 25, 2022

Google says the feature works on-device, and joins its existing spell-checking functionality.

From The Verge ● Mar. 10, 2022

Only in cases such as spell-checking, where the megasourced data is remarkably coherent and precise, can you reach a degree of certainty that you would feel comfortable turning over much responsibility to a computer.

From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2014

Students do everything by computer, use Gaelic spell-checking, a Gaelic online terminology database.

From The Internet and Languages [around the year 2000] by Lebert, Marie